


through the looking glass

by Lint



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 03:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16297304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lint/pseuds/Lint
Summary: “You haven't been you since waking up in the hospital. This is kind of an explanation for that. I mean, plenty of weird things happen in this town all the time. And the fact that Veronica is avoiding you like the plague? That's actually a pretty big deal.”





	through the looking glass

**Author's Note:**

> Post 3x01

 

Betty's eyes flutter open.

 

Though her vision is slightly blurred, she looks around trying to bring it into focus. Plain white walls slowly come into view, along with the protective rails surrounding a bed that isn't hers. There's a needle in her arm, and a monitor clipped to the end of her finger. A mild panic begins to set in, as she automatically reaches for the needle, ready to pull it out.

 

“There you are,” a voice calls to her right. “You gave us all such a fright.”

 

Betty's head snaps to the source, brows furrowing, head still groggy but enough of an explanation as to why she didn't notice her right away.

 

“Cheryl?” she questions.

 

“Hey cousin,” Cheryl greets warmly.

 

“Where am I?”

 

Cheryl chuckles without a trace of humor.

 

“Where do you think?”

 

Hospital. Right. Really kind of obvious.

 

“Okay,” Betty accepts without rebuttal. “So what happened?”

 

Cheryl leans closer, carefully brushing a stray lock of hair from Betty's forehead, her face awash with concern.

 

“You had another one of your episodes,” she explains. “Only this time, you didn't come out of it. So we called an ambulance and here you are.”

 

“Episodes?”

 

Cheryl regards Betty a moment, as if contemplating whether to sugar coat any response she's prepared to give.

 

“A seizure,” she clarifies. “A pretty significant one at that. Dr. Glass thinks you haven't been taking your medication.”

 

Cheryl's hand quickly covers Betty's.

 

“Is that true, cousin? Because if it is, I can't even begin to admonish you enough for refusing to take care of yourself that way.”

 

Dr. Glass? Betty thinks. Medication? That's not, no. No, this isn't right. She made up Dr. Glass. Her medication is nothing more that self prescribed adderall. Of which she's pretty sure, has been taken regularly, since she started.

 

“I don't know,” Betty replies honestly. Because she doesn't. None of this is making any sense to her at the moment.

 

“Betty.”

 

“It's the truth,” she insists. “I can't... I can't remember anything.”

 

Cheryl's concern only deepens, as nods, accepting the answer.

 

“They said that was a possibility. But tell me, what is the last thing you do remember?”

 

Betty contemplates a moment, trying to recall, but it feels like walking down a hallway in the dark. There is something there, however, and she reaches for it as best she can.

 

“I was on the back porch,” she begins, noting how Cheryl perks up suddenly. “And something weird was going on.”

 

“Weird?” Cheryl inquires.

 

“Yeah, my Mom and Polly. They were doing something strange. With the twins. There were all these people there. A bonfire, I think.”

 

“Your mother?” Cheryl interjects, her concern shifting to surprise. “Polly? Betty, whatever are you talking about?”

 

“You asked if I remem-”

 

“You were on the back porch, that's true. But at Thistlehouse. Where you live. With me.”

 

Betty's mouth drops open.

 

“Your Mother and Sister, have been out of your life for almost a year now. Dove deep down the well of that ridiculous cult. They tried to get you to come along, but you proved stronger than that, didn't you?”

 

No, is the automatic thought. That can't be true. That's impossible. Nothing about this makes any sense. She needs something, someone, to clarify it for her. Someone who is not her cousin, right now.

 

“Jughead,” she says aloud. “I need to talk to him.”

 

Once again, surprise covers Cheryl's features.

 

“Jones?” she questions. “That hobo? Betty, he moved away Freshman year with that vagabond family of his. Somewhere in the Midwest, before you ask, but I don't know or care where exactly.”

 

“What about Archie?”

 

“Still in Military school with that plea deal his mother got him.”

 

Cheryl places her hand against Betty's forehead.

 

“Are you feverish?” she asks. “Because this conversation worries me that you're also becoming delusional.”

 

The door to the room opens then, Veronica and Toni walking inside, both of whom perk up immediately when seeing Betty is awake.

 

“Oh thank god,” Veronica says, making a beeline to the bed. “How do you feel?”

 

Her hand reaches out to pet Betty's hair ever so carefully, as if the mere act of touching her head will send her unconscious again.

 

“Confused,” Betty answers. “Tired.”

 

“Awe,” Veronica pouts playfully. “And here I just got you back.”

 

The playfulness quickly fades, just as it had with Cheryl, her bottom lip beginning to tremble.

 

“You really scared me,” she says softly.

 

Betty isn't sure why, but suddenly she's never felt so guilt ridden about anything in her entire life. Her eyes shift to Toni, standing next to Cheryl with her hand on the redhead's shoulder.

 

“You scared all of us Blondie,” she inputs.

 

Tears well in Betty's eyes.

 

“I'm sorry,” she offers up, those tears beginning to fall. “I'm so sorry.”

 

Veronica climbs onto the bed then, carefully situating herself so as not to disturb any of the medical instruments attached, arms wrapping around her waist before her head settles onto Betty's shoulder. Cheryl and Toni shift around to the other side, both their hands reaching out to the bed ridden girl.

 

Betty's eyes fall closed, cutting off the stream of tears, wondering if this is nothing but some strange dream.

 

/\

 

Not a dream it turns out, when two days later she's being escorted into Thistlehouse by the same trio who have not really left her side. Kept for observation until Dr. Glass gave her a clean bill of health, though they did have an extended discussion about the responsibility of taking her meds every single day from here on, and discharged with the promise that she will.

 

They lead Betty to her room, which she's grateful for because if left to find it on her own, she would have no idea which one was actually hers. Once inside she heads straight toward the bed and sits on the edge of the mattress, rubbing the back of her neck before sighing deeply.

 

When she looks up, three pairs of eyes are watching her intently.

 

“Guys,” she states bluntly. “I'm fine. Cleared by a trusted physician. Have my medications mapped out for the next six months. Really, I'll be okay.”

 

None of them move, and though she's been stuck in a hospital bed for a few days, Betty wants nothing more than to curl up in her own and rest. When she relays that to the group, Cheryl and Toni accept it easily, exiting just a moment later. Veronica however, lingers there, before taking a cautious step forward.

 

“V, I'm okay.”

 

Veronica comes closer.

 

“I promise.”

 

Betty's eyes widen, when Veronica wedges herself between her legs, and throws both arms around Betty's neck.

 

“You,” Veronica begins, pressing a soft kiss against Betty's lips. “Are not allowed.” Another kiss. “To scare me like that.” Another. “Ever again.” The last words punctuated by one long, lingering smooch, as Betty's eyes fall closed.

 

Her thoughts come back quickly, then she pulls back, much to the disappointment of the girl in her arms.

 

“Ronnie what are you doing?”

 

Veronica's brow furrows.

 

“Welcoming you home?” she answers, somewhat confused. “Sorry, is this too soon? Do you need more time to recover?”

 

Betty wonders what amount of time it will take, to adjust to Veronica kissing her as if it's something they always do. She shakes her head. Maybe it is. Just like back in the hospital, trying to remember the seizure, Betty reaches for a memory she can't seem to find.

 

Her blank look causes one of worry in Veronica.

 

“Something's wrong,” she says, arms pulling back to that her hands now cup Betty's face. “They said you didn't remember the seizure, but it's more than that, isn't it?”

 

Betty doesn't answer.

 

“What else?” Veronica asks, insistent. “Don't you remember, Betty? Your condition? Your life?”

 

Her eyes are searching.

 

“Me?”

 

Betty still doesn't answer.

 

“Oh,” comes out a whisper. “Oh god.”

 

She pulls herself from the embrace.

 

“You really don't remember me?”

 

Betty reaches up to clasp Veronica's wrists.

 

“Of course I do,” she finally replies. “I just, um, the kissing? That's new.”

 

“No it isn't.”

 

“New to me.”

 

Veronica's eyes widen.

 

“No. It isn't.”

 

Betty rises from the bed, and Veronica steps back, pulling out of her grasp.

 

“Don't freak out,” Betty begins, a hand offered up.

 

“Too late.”

 

Betty takes another step, and again Veronica retreats.

 

“But I don't think I'm the Betty you know.”

 

/\

 

The clock on her bedside table reads three in the morning, and no matter how hard she tries, Betty can't sleep. The look in Veronica's eyes earlier, as she turned and fled, haunts her. How she wants, more than anything, to take away the grief she saw in them. The pain. As if the most important thing in her life was ripped away.

 

Perhaps it has been.

 

Where ever she is, whatever version of the world she finds herself in, Veronica Lodge is ridiculously in love with Betty Cooper. Catch is, though Betty knows who she is in her own mind, this body wanted nothing more than to keep kissing her when it had the chance.

 

Groaning, Betty rises from the bed and fumbles toward the door through the dark, in an unfamiliar room. Hopefully this world's Cheryl is just as obsessed with strawberry ice cream as the one she knows. Halfway to the kitchen, her mission if derailed by the sight of Nana Rose perched in front of the grand sliding glass door that leads to the backyard.

 

Her first though is that the old woman simply fell asleep in her chair, but as Betty approaches, she is greeted fondly.

 

“Betty,” Rose offers with a smile. “How is your head?”

 

A hand automatically lifts to her temple.

 

“I'm fine, thank you.”

 

Nana Rose smiles before turning her attention back to the glass door.

 

“There used to be more stars in the sky,” she comments. “Visible, I mean. It's not as if they disappeared simply because we can no longer see them. When I was a girl they were everywhere.” She sighs. “That's progress, I suppose.”

 

Betty places her hand on the back of the wheelchair.

 

“It's late,” she states. “Would you like me to take you back to your room?”

 

Nana Rose looks to her again, eyes focused with a clarity Betty has never seen.

 

“Oh my, you're out of place,” she offers. “Aren't you, dear?”

 

Betty's pulse jumps, immediately kneeling before the chair.

 

“Yes,” she replies insistently. “I-I woke up and it's like, everything I know is wrong.”

 

Nana Rose nods at her knowingly.

 

“A traveler,” she gives. “I've met a few of you before.”

 

The hair rises on the back of Betty's neck.

 

“You have?” she questions. “Do you how they got here? Why it happened?”

 

Nana Rose regards her a long, awkward beat, and Betty is fearful her lucidity has faded.

 

“You'll forgive me,” she begins. “But it was a long time ago. If I can recall, a great trauma befell another version of themselves, and they wanted nothing more than to escape the pain.”

 

Betty thinks of her mother. Her sister. Niece and nephew being dangled above a bonfire, surrounded by the weirdo cult they're mixed up in, and the pure shock of seeing the babies let go. A shock only exacerbated by watching them float above the flames, then darkness, and waking up in a hospital bed with Cheryl at her side.

 

“Nana Rose,” Betty starts. “If you have any idea how they got back to their rightful place, please, tell me.”

 

Rose regards her for another long pause, and again Betty questions whether she's going to fade away at any moment.

 

“Time, I suppose. Whatever it was they were hiding from, sorting itself out.”

 

Betty is not satisfied with that answer.

 

“Can you think of any other way?”

 

Rose's hand reaches out to grasp Betty's wrist with a surprising strength.

 

“One could fathom,” she begins. “That if a great shock brought them to this world, another could send them right back.”

 

/\

 

She swims a few laps in the pool to clear her head, taking advantage of what benefits there are living at Thistlehouse as best she can. Veronica hasn't come back around to see her, though Betty assumed she would have by now, and hopes that what ever strain she's put on the relationship isn't catastrophic.

 

Pushing back from the edge after her last lap, she wades idly in the deep end, trying to think of nothing but the movement of her arms and legs. Nana Rose's advice has been in the forefront of her thoughts since it was given, but she can't think of a realistic scenario to give herself a big enough shock, that doesn't involve the possibility of grievous injury.

 

Taking a deep breath, she dips below the water, letting herself sink all the way down. The quiet soothes her in a way she hasn't felt since waking up in that hospital bed. Since breaking Veronica's heart, inadvertent as it was, since dreading the reminder alert on her phone to take her pills. It's strange, that the Riverdale she knows has been nothing but a nightmare over the last year, but she wants more than anything to get back there. Be where she belongs.

 

Opening her eyes, she can almost see it, blurred against the water. See herself and Veronica, in a hospital room similar to the one she woke up in here, and that Veronica sits by the bed holding onto her hand. Betty soon realizes it's not wishful thinking, when that other version of herself suddenly turns her head, eyes popping open and the briefest of contact is shared between them. She opens her mouth to say... Something. But all that happens is the air in her lungs releasing, as she grabs madly at nothing but the water before her, wanting desperately to crawl through this opened breach.

 

Then she's suddenly pulled upward, gasping for air when breaching the surface, and twisting around wildly to Toni's incredulous face.

 

“Are you crazy?” she shouts, grabbing at Betty's shoulders again. “Trying to drown yourself or something?”

 

Betty looks down into the water, whatever she saw at the bottom long gone. Toni sees this, sees that she wants to go down again, and starts pulling her toward the edge of the pool.

 

“Out,” she demands. “Out of the water, right now.”

 

Toni doesn't let go, pushing Betty up until she complies and crawls out, following behind as they both sprawl onto the ground splashing water everywhere.

 

“I wasn't,” Betty tries. “I wasn't trying to...”

 

Toni regards her seriously.

 

“Could have fooled me,” she says. “You were down there for nearly five minutes.”

 

Betty still breathes heavily.

 

“I was trying to go home.”

 

Toni's got that same look as pulling Betty out of the water. But she doesn't yell again. Instead she reaches out, holding onto the crook of Betty's elbow, and tries to understand.

 

“You're going to have to explain that,” she states.

 

And so Betty does. Tells her everything about her mother, her sister, Jason Blossom and the downward spiral the Riverdale she knows has been stuck in. The Serpents, Northside vs Southside, and Hiram Lodge. Her darkness, her Dad turning out to be a serial killer, the Farm. It all comes tumbling out, and it's so cathartic Betty begins to cry. Over the course of the story Toni has gotten closer, wrapped her arms around Betty, and held on tight.

 

“Damn girl,” she comments when it seems like Betty is finally done. “You kept all of that bottled up?”

 

Betty laughs brokenly, nodding against her.

 

“Not surprising,” Toni goes on. “Our Betty is the same way.”

 

Betty's head snaps up quick.

 

“You believe me?”

 

Toni shrugs.

 

“You haven't been you since waking up in the hospital. This is kind of an explanation for that. I mean, plenty of weird things happen in this town all the time. And the fact that Veronica is avoiding you like the plague? That's actually a pretty big deal.”

 

Betty lets out a huge sigh of relief.

 

“Toni,” she starts, tone serious. “Did something happen to your Betty? Because I think I also had a seizure before I woke up here and-”

 

“Yeah,” Toni cuts her off. “But Cheryl made me promise not to say anything after you came to and didn't seem to remember what happened to them.”

 

Betty's stomach drops.

 

“Tell me.”

 

Toni doesn't look like she wants to.

 

“Please.”

 

“They're dead,” she replies. “Died in a fire out on that Farm. All of them. Your Mom. Your sister. The twins. So if you're here because of some trauma you went through, she must have done the same.”

 

Betty nods with the new knowledge, heart breaking for the loss of a family she knows isn't really hers.

 

“I saw something down there,” she says, nodding back at the water. “I saw me. Nana Rose said that a great shock probably brought me here, and another could send me back.”

 

“Nana Rose?” Toni questions.

 

Betty nods.

 

“Okay no,” Toni continues. “I love that old broad to death, but she is batshit crazy on top of being senile. There's got to be a better way than traumatic shock to switch you back.”

 

“Like what?”

 

Toni thinks a moment.

 

“I don't know,” she replies honestly.

 

/\

 

It takes some convincing to bring Cheryl on board, but when Betty fails the childhood memory test in spectacular fashion, she is persuaded but still doubtful. Toni got an idea, when Betty went into better detail of just how she was able to see her world again. The quiet at the bottom of the pool. The calm she gained from the silence.

 

“In tranquility there is clarity,” she offers up, which Cheryl pokes fun by calling her a guru, and Betty watches the whole exchange with a grin on her face. The more things seemed to be changed, the more they're actually the same. Cheryl and Toni, opposite sides of a coin, finding balance in each other. They both laugh in her face when she expresses these thoughts aloud, and Betty eventually follows.

 

Veronica knocking on the door is the last thing Betty expects, answering it while Cheryl and Toni still set up the room.

 

“Hey,” she says in greeting.

 

“Hey,” Betty echoes.

 

They stare at each other for a beat.

 

“Toni called me,” Veronica fills in. “We actually had a pretty long conversation. About things. About... You.”

 

Betty nods, finally stepping aside to allow her inside.

 

“Do you believe her?” she questions. “Believe that I'm not, you know, yours?”

 

Veronica steps closer, places a hand upon her cheek, and gives her a look of such love Betty is suddenly envious of this world's version of herself.

 

“Any place,” Veronica begins. “Anytime, any world.”

 

She pushes up on her toes to give the whisper of a kiss.

 

“You are always mine.”

 

Grabbing Betty's hand, she guides her back toward Toni and Cheryl.

 

-

 

“So how is this going to work?” Cheryl asks, lighting the last of the candles.

 

Betty lies flat on her back in the middle of the floor, staring up at the ceiling, while the waft of incense begins to permeate the room.

 

“We get her calm,” Toni answers. “Relaxed. And when she hits a peak of tranquility, she'll just, you know. Poof.”

 

“Poof?”

 

“Poof.”

 

“How incredibly scientific.”

 

“Babe, nothing about this screams science.”

 

“Everything is science. People cry magic just because they don't-”

 

“Hey!” Veronica cuts them off. “How is Betty supposed to achieve tranquility with the two of you bickering like that?”

 

Betty chuckles softly.

 

“They always do that.”

 

Cheryl shoots Veronica a look.

 

“It's our thing is it not, mi amor?”

 

Toni also gives Veronica a look.

 

“Oui, oui.”

 

Veronica laughs as she moves to kneel on the floor, just above Betty's head placing both hands on either side of her face, thumb idly stroking along her cheek.

 

“Ready to go back to Kansas, Dorothy?” she asks.

 

Betty grins.

 

“I'm more of an Alice,” she replies. “Don't you think?”

 

Veronica lifts a hand to smooth along Betty's blonde locks.

 

“I can see that.”

 

She leans down further, to place a kiss in the middle of Betty's forehead.

 

“You are safe,” she whispers. “You are loved. When you make it back, I hope you hold onto that.”

 

Betty covers one of Veronica's hands with her own.

 

“Thank you.”

 

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and whatever Toni's plan was to have her achieve a sense of tranquility is suddenly void as Betty feels herself slip away.

 

/\

 

Betty's eyes flutter open.

 

Though her vision is slightly blurred, she looks around trying to bring it into focus. Plain white walls slowly come into view, along with the protective rails surrounding a bed that isn't hers. There's a needle in her arm, and a monitor clipped to the end of her finger. There is no panic this time, as she looks to her right expecting to see her Mother and Sister, but finds Veronica instead.

 

“Hey,” she offers in greeting.

 

Veronica nearly drops the phone in hand, perking up immediately, rising from her seat and moving closer to the bed.

 

“Hey!” she replies. “You're awake. Good. Thank god. Uh, I should get your Doctor. Your Mom?”

 

Betty reaches over, Veronica's hand meeting hers, and clasping easily.

 

“In a second,” she detracts. “Just let me look at you.”

 

A flush fills Veronica cheeks.

 

“Uh, okay,” she gives, suddenly shy.

 

Betty tugs on her hand, Veronica resisting a moment out of confusion.

 

“B?”

 

Betty tugs again, and Veronica gets the hint, crawling carefully onto the bed and snuggling into her side.

 

“So affectionate,” Veronica teases. “I should really get your doctor. Are you sure you're feeling alright?”

 

Betty puts an arm around her shoulder.

 

“With you,” she begins, pressing a kiss atop Veronica hair. “I'm always alright.”

 

 


End file.
